The day after The Mummy opened, the studio asked writer/director Stephen Sommers to make a sequel.

When they met in the first movie, Rick stole a kiss from Evy while he was in jail and about to be hanged. Evy didn’t even know his name, but she still bought his freedom.Ardeth Bay is a Medjai warrior who helps Rick and Evy defeat the Mummy in the first movie.

The Medjai, once the Pharaoh’s bodyguards, are sworn to keep the Mummy in his tomb.

Imhotep kidnapped Evy in the first movie, too. He thought she was the reincarnation of Anck-su-namun.

Patricia Velasquez said the love story is the heart of the Mummy movies.

The Mummy’s face appears in a giant sandstorm in the first movie.

The Rock stars in the prequel, The Scorpion King (2002).

The adventure continues with The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).

Automotive Note
For the vintage bus, they rounded up pieces from private collections all over Europe. The ads are real ones from the ’30s.

Award Note
In 2006, Rachel Weisz won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Constant Gardener.

Backstory Notes
The pygmies have been in Ahm Shere for thousands of years. In Ancient Egypt, the pharaohs would bring them back to Thebes and use them as jesters.

Medjai warriors begin training at an early age at a desert compound. Their tattoos read, “Imhotep” and “truth.”

Biographical Notes
Before he started acting, Oded Fehr (Ardeth Bay) was a member of the Israeli navy.

Patricia Velasquez began her career as a model in the ’90s. She’s considered the first Latina supermodel.

In real life, Oded Fehr doesn’t have any face tattoos, but he does have a small ghost on his back.

Sommers: “I love the whole [Ancient Egyptian] culture and everything about that era.”

Oded Fehr: “I kept getting hurt all the time. I was all black and blue and it was very tiring.”

Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep) on the sequel: “Two years had passed, but it felt like we’d never stopped.”

Patricia Velasquez (Anck-su-namun): “I had 82 bruises when I finished.”

Ardeth Bay wasn’t a big speaking part in The Mummy. Oded Fehr (Ardeth): “I’m afraid I’ve become a bit of a blabbermouth in this [movie].”

Director Stephen Sommers: “I can’t believe I put a jungle sequence in a desert movie.” It’s one of his favorites.

Brendan Fraser: “It was a great opportunity to be a make-believe dad.” Fraser became a real-life dad a year after the movie came out.

Fraser on Weisz: “We were partners, we were colleagues, we were friends… We had that chemistry.”

Vosloo said his axe weighed about 50 lbs. After three days, he felt like his arms were coming out of their sockets.

Random Note
Alex has the Bracelet of Anubis. In 2013, actor Freddie Boath appeared on “House of Anubis.”

Script Notes
The sequel takes place almost ten years later, even though the movies were released two years apart. Writer/director Sommers joked that he wrote it that way because he “didn’t want to work with babies.”

In the original script, Jonathan owned a casino. They cut it to save money on sets.

Writer/director Stephen Sommers originally wanted the mummy soldiers to be the main villains of the sequel.

Set Notes
They used hundreds of real scorpions and tarantulas in the movie.

John Hannah (Jonathan) came up with the idea to fill the bathtub with bubbles. He slipped getting out and injured his knee.

It was hard to keep the torches lit. They only burned for three minutes at a time.